mtb는 원래 미국사람 게리피셔가 만들었서 미국이 본고장인데
이번 올림픽을 보면 로드에 깊은 전통을 가진 유럽이 완전히
휩슬어 버렸네요.
우리나라도 미국보단 유럽환경에 가깝다고 본다면...
미국이 죽 쑤고 있는 원인을 nbc는 아래와 같이 분석하네요.
1)유럽이 미국보다 mtb선수가 훨씬 많다. (최근 폭증)
2)프랑스에는 500개의 고급과정 사이클학교가 있다.
좋은 코치가 많다.
3)유럽은 청소년선수 지원이 좋다.
4)유럽은 좋은 대회가 많으며 참가에 따른 비용이 낮다.
(집근처에서 정기적으로 열리는 대회가 많고 청소년에게는 참가비 면제)
5)유럽은 우승에 전력이 집주되어 있다.

Created in the hills of Northern California in the mid-70s, mountain biking has been shaped by American culture, technology and landscapes. But mountain bike racing -- men's cross-country competition, anyway -- is now thoroughly dominated by Europeans.

The Europeans are starting younger, they have better coaching, more top-caliber athletes, and they are totally focused on winning. All this has put the U.S. mountain biking program -- once the world's best -- into an unfamiliar position: trying to catch up.
U.S. men won the first two official world cross-country championships in '90 and '91. As late as '95, the U.S. men's team was ranked No. 1 in the world. But when mountain biking made its Olympic debut in the '96 Games in Atlanta, U.S. entrants Tinker Juarez and Don Myrah nearly got lapped by winner Bart Brentjens of the Netherlands, and both finished nearly 18 minutes down. At the '99 worlds, Steve Larsen was the top U.S. finisher at No. 39.
Reasons for the decline?

"I think it's sheer numbers," says Ned Overend, the Colorado racer who won the inaugural world title in his hometown 10 years ago and was a dominant international racer during the early 90s. "Five years ago, Italy had the same number of racers as the U.S. and it's a much smaller country. Today they have a lot more. The bigger the genetic base of athletes you have, the better your top level is going to be."

What's true in Italy is also the case in France, which, despite having a much smaller population than the U.S., has nearly as many mountain bike racers. More important, France boasts 500 high-level cycling schools.

These schools, says Overend, are just one element of an outstanding junior development structure. "In Europe, junior racers are better supported. They often race for free. And there are regular races in all these little towns. They don't have to travel as often or as far as U.S. racers to find good competition."

Philip Milburn, the chief executive officer of USA Cycling, which directs U.S. mountain bike racing competition and selects the U.S. Olympic Cycling Team, says coaching is a key factor. "Starting in '91 or '92, the Europeans began applying all of their coaching resources to mountain biking," he says. "The Europeans have always been focused on results in competition. Here in the U.S. we've also been focused on " growing the sport.''